Background and objectives

At the core of the Research Council of Finland’s activities is to provide funding for excellent scientific research. The research we fund is also expected to have high scientific and societal impact and follow the principles of responsible science.

When you apply for Academy Project Funding, you apply for funding to hire a research team and cover the costs of the project.

An Academy Project is built around an ambitious research plan of high scientific quality. The research plan is carried out by a high-level research team or consortium made up of several teams. Academy Project Funding is designed to promote the quality and diversity of research, scientific impact and impact beyond academia as well as science self-renewal. The aim is to attain internationally as high a scientific standard of work as possible and to support scientific breakthroughs and top-tier international research collaboration. In principle, the projects we fund must benefit Finnish research and society and international collaboration.

The funding is granted primarily to teams of researchers who are working on their doctoral thesis and/or who have obtained their doctoral degree.

We encourage researchers to engage in international mobility that will support the research, for example, so that researchers hired to the project work abroad for a fixed period.

The project may also hire foreign researchers who already work or who will work in the Finnish scientific community. The funding may also be used to hire researchers returning to Finland.

We are setting aside funds from our 2025 research funding budget to boost doctoral training within Academy Projects. This funding will further strengthen the researcher training in RCF-funded research projects. Increasing the funding for doctoral education is linked to our strategic goal of strengthening skills and competence.